Rosie Makes Freakin' Excellent Chocolate Lava/Volcano Cakes With A Creme Anglaise.

Before ... ... and after. Here's the money shot.
Chocolate Lava Cake with Creme Anglaise.
 I have a friend (Happy Birthday, Nancey!)
  who just had a birthday and I was deliberating over what to make for her. I've been wanting to do a Chocolate Lava cake so I searched the internet for recipes. There were only a few gazillion recipes out there for Chocolate Lava Cake, AKA Chocolate Volcano Cake, and AKA Molten Chocolate Cake. I only found one recipe that was what I wanted - a chocolate cake with a truffle-like center. And here's Rosie's adaptation. I started on the truffles first.

4 oz. Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream

Melt chocolate in cream in a double boiler.

Whisk gently to blend.

Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm ...

... then roll into 6 balls. Refrigerate balls until ready to use.

Chocolate Cake Ingredients:
 Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Butter 6 small ramekins. (Mine were 5-ounce ramekins.)
 1 4-oz. package Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Bar
1 stick unsalted butter
 2 eggs
2 yolks
 1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cake flour
 Melt the chocolate and butter in double broiler.
 Whisk to blend.
 With electric mixer, beat eggs and yolks,
 then gradually add sugar and vanilla.
 Beat at high speed about 5 minutes, until thick and light.
Fold melted chocolate mixture and flour,
 alternatively about 3 times, into egg mixture.
Spoon batter into the ramekins.
About 1/3 cup each.

These ramekins were my mother's. This is the first time I've used them. I bet someone gave them to her and she probably never used them. Mama Hawthorne would have loved this cake.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a double broiler.

Melty melty.

A little whisk action. Combine completely and set aside.

I added my eggs and yolks to a large bowl.

And started awhuppin'. When you're whuppin' eggs, you want to watch for the color change.

You want the eggs to get lighter in color.

I have my whupped eggs ready to have sugar beaten into them. Vanilla extract. Flour. Chocolate mixture. Buttered ramekins.

Slowly, beat in sugar.

Beat in vanilla.

It's getting thicker. This is good. Keep beating. From start to finish took about 5-6 minutes with a hand-held beater.

This is the color you want. And the thickness.

Alternatively, drizzle and fold in the melted chocolate ...

... and flour. About 3-4 times.

Be delicate with your folding. In case you don't know what "folding" means, it means to take a spatula, gently slice into the gradually added mixture at a diagonal, then lift and turn as you rotate the bowl.

Fold until just incorporated.

Ladle into well-buttered ramekins.

Try to even out the tops.

Place a cold truffle ball in the center.

Press down.

Pretty.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Let sit for 5 or so minutes ...

... then take a sharp knife around the inside of each ramekin ... ... and invert onto plates. Now for the inspired part. Creme Anglaise.

My mise en place for Creme Anglaise:
 1/2 cup skim milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1/2 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
 Combine the milk, cream, and split and scraped vanilla pod and seeds.
 Cook over low/moderate heat just until small bubbles form around the rim.
 About 5-6 minutes.
 In another bowl beat the egg yolks and gradually beat in sugar.
 Whisk in half of the hot cream mixture, very slowly, in a thin stream.
You do not want scrambled eggs, so go slowly.
 Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan
 and cook over moderate heat,
stirring constantly with a wooden spoon,
until mixture thickens, about 4-5 minutes.
It will coat the spoon.
This is heaven on a spoon.

Milk, cream, and sliced, scraped pod and beans.

Scald the cream/milk/vanilla.
Just to bubbles around the edge of the pan.

4 egg yolks. Ready to be beaten. Now, watch the color change.

Start beating on slow, then gradually go up each level to high.

Gradually add in sugar, beating. Keep going. Lighter and thicker.

Beat away until almost white and thick.

Slowly stream in half of hot cream mixture into egg/sugar mixture, beating away. Remember: NO scrambled eggs, please. Thin stream. Beat constantly.

Add beaten mixture back to pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thickened. About 5 minutes.

Strain into container, pressing vanilla through strainer, holding back on pods.

I'm ready to plate.

I islanded the luscious chocolates in my lake of Creme Anglaise.

Oh wait. It gets better.

Yeah. Even bettah.

This reminds me of eating my Eggs Benedict. The anticipation. When I fork into my Florentine Benedictine Ova, I'm damn near giddy with the anticipation of invading the molten yolk mass and watching the sunshiny golden-ness cascade over an English Muffin, preferably homemade, which would make it an American Muffin.

My hand is shaking. I'm ready to cut into my Lava Cake.

The lava oozes, not gushes, out. I think I'll work on this recipe. I want a chocolate gush. Not an ooze.

The bittersweet chocolate swirls seductively with the Creme Anglaise.

Sop bites of cake with chocolate lava and creme Divine. That's Mama Hawthorne's dessert fork.

This is the best thing I've eaten in a while. There are no words. So I'll give you food 'gasms.

Giada. Oh Giada. We know.

Alex, just sneeze please.

Alton, please restrain. Although, points for raising the champagne flute.

Oh, crap. The Wretched Rache. Oops. That's not a fgasm. That's constipation. You can tell by the eyes. Sorry. My bad. Nothing good comes of tribal bone necklaces. Thanks to Jillian at foodnetworkhumor.com for the last four pictures.